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William Bolcom (b. 1938)
Introduction '''William Bolcom''' was born in '''Seattle Washington''' and almost out of the box at 11 years old, enrolled in the private study of composition at '''University of Washington''' under the tutelage of a number of preeminent composers, '''George Frederick McKay, John Verrall''', and '''Olivier Messiaen''' in '''Paris''' in 1960. Getting his doctorate in Composition 1964 at '''Stanford University''', he continued to teach and compose at a prolific and versatile rate, writing in a number of styles from chamber music to concertos, song cycles opera, symphonies as well as being a noted performer of Ragtime and '''Gershwin''' with his wife '''Joan Morris'''. Work Analysis His Pulitzer prize winning piece, '''"Twelve New Etudes, Books I-IV, per pianoforte (1977/1986)''', is at once experimental in its forms and lyrical in its melodic approach. This piece seems to bring out the possibilities of the piano as perhaps the most expressive percussion instrument ever invented. As he was one to not fully embrace the "European model", his work is filled with Jazz harmonies and specifically Ragtime chord changes and shapes that pepper this thoroughly modern work. He has said that '''Charles Ives''' is his greatest influence and his themes are primarily of American origin, perhaps in an effort to distance himself from those European modes of approaching composition. His '''"Three Ghost Rags"''' are a lovely tribute to this music that he has deftly incorporated and mastered as a style not only in his own performances but compositionally incorporating more modern chordal stacks that sound more related to 12 tone rows sitting right alongside the traditionally and tonally based work, (The '''"Poltergeist"''' section of this is a perfect example of this.) Perhaps his most ambitious work is his '''"Songs of Innocence and of Experience" (1984), (William Blake). '''In listening to this long work, there''' ''' is seemingly not a European influence to be had as it is almost a homily to the American experience via '''Blakes''' poems. Using Choir, Symphony, Funk and Jazz rhythms, one gets the sense of America as religious experience, though again there is no overt agenda to suggest that was his intent. Comparisons You can feel the influence of '''Charles Ives''' in his inherent "American" themes and the use of early 20th century song forms in the Ragtime idiom as well as gleaning much from the song books of '''George and Ira Gershwin and Irving Berlin. ''' Observations The melding of 12 tone modern music with the more popular music of the times, (i.e ragtime), is an interesting juxtaposition of writing in the styles of a particular moment in time in America, and composing using those eras as his jumping off point. Looking back in this way for his inspiration, is perhaps nostalgic for an era he was not even a part of might tend to over glamorize the era via myth making, but one can overlook that as there does not feel to be any overt political, jingoistic intent by marrying these styles together in such a skillful way. Works Cited https://williambolcom.com/ http://www.allmusic.com/artist/william-bolcom-mn0000167256/biography https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Bolcom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bolcom http://www.nonesuch.com/artists/william-bolcom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_of_Innocence_and_of_Experience